I must admit, having seen Ani twice before, I thought her beginning was
rather weak , and she didn't really seem into it. But after a few
songs, she was rocking out as much as she usually does, and it was just
incredible!
She started with "Little Plastic Castle", and went on to "Fuel" (it was
as though I was listening to the CD, 'cuz she was going in order!), and
then she played a new song; no clue what it's called. It was pretty
hard to hear the lyrics, too. Then she went in to "Two Little Girls" and
"As Is", both of which were really good.
Then she talked a little bit about Heidi, the "Mistress of Merch", and
how Heidi always tells her suggestions about what to play, or what not
to play.... and she said that Heidi had told her to stop playing this
next one, 'cuz she'd been playing it at so many consecutive shows....
so, with a "Heidi, this one's for you", Ani broke into "Letter to a
John". She forgot some of the lyrics, but recovered nicely. That went
directly into "Pulse", which was incredible. Then, she said that Heidi
had asked her to revive the next song, so she did -- "Done Wrong", which
was absolutely *incredible*.
She then played "Every State Line", after which she sort of talked about
her various run-ins with the police, who would pull her over just for
being her, and she and Andy talked about that -- she said that it was
Andy who helped her remain calm through this and talked her out of some
sticky spots. Then was another new song, "Come Away", which was
AMAZING. Very mellow, and the four of them (Ani, Andy, Jason, Julie)
harmonized at the end, which was beautiful.
Next was "Anticipate", and then another new one, "Tiz of Thee", which
she said was called "Backpackers" (or something like that). This was
really good, also; the lyrics are really strong. Then the 3 backup
people left the stage, and Ani played "Swandive" solo -- absolutely
incredible. She started it, and sang the first two lines, and then
stopped herself to thank us for listening so well; she said she'd been
uneasy about playing in a sports arena because she thought the sound
wouldn't carry so well. She started playing again, and it was amazing
-- the best I'd ever heard her play it.
Everyone came back out again after that, and she played "Gravel", and
then "Shameless". Some of the members of the Rebirth Brass Band came
out, and she played a Stevie Wonder song -- the first time I'd ever seen
Ani do a song without a guitar! She was just singing and dancing,
bouncing around the stage; she has such incredible energy! Everyone
left the stage, and as an encore, she came back out and did "Overlap";
very mellow, but very good. She had to wait a little bit to get a
guitar, and as she was waiting, she did an 'interpretive dance' for us,
which was hilarious!!
All in all, the show was fantastic. Ani was wearing a little black
dress; Julie was wearing gold pants (!). I was a bit uneasy about the
concept of a keyboardist/backup vocalist, but I think it worked nicely
overall.
Catherine